The association of jurists that has been trying for months to appear in different parts of the Unión case, supposedly to act as a popular accusation against the accused, ended this Monday by filing a complaint against the judge who initiated the case, César Romero Pamparacuatro. The complaint was filed at noon this Monday in the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands, as La Voz de Lanzarote has been able to confirm. But even before it was filed, it had already been advanced by the ABC newspaper.
The national newspaper dedicates a report in its edition this Monday to questioning the instruction of the Unión case, based on an order from Judge Rafael Lis, who was recused months ago when he was carrying out a very similar investigation. According to the Provincial Court, the magistrate has an "indirect interest" in the case, given that his wife was hired as a lawyer for one of the defendants in Unión, Juan Francisco Rosa, to represent him in the Stratvs case. However, shortly before the judge had separated a complaint from Lleó from the main case and continued to investigate it, which led the Prosecutor's Office to request his recusal again.
In the same report in which he talks about Lis's investigation, the ABC newspaper advances that complaint from the Jiménez de Asúa Association of Jurists, which until recently was not even formally registered. Among the lawyers who have acted on behalf of this association is Juan David García Pazos, who at least in a hearing of the Unión case attended representing Luis Lleó. In addition, García Pazos is the lawyer who took an environmental association from Fuerteventura to appear in the Stratvs case, which later decided to withdraw from the procedure and stated that it felt "deceived and used" by this lawyer, since it believes that all he did was "contribute noise" and hinder the cause.
"A Trojan horse with illegitimate interests"
In addition, this association has recently appeared in another case, derived from the Yate case, in which Felipe Fernández Camero is accused of an alleged crime of embezzlement of public funds from the Yaiza City Council. As happened in Stratvs and in the different parts of the Unión case where this association has tried to appear, in this case the instruction of the case was already completed and practically ready to go to trial.
"There are times when the popular accuser is a Trojan horse that enters the process with its belly full of illegitimate interests," the prosecutor Javier Ródenas came to state (reproducing a phrase from Judge Javier Gómez de Liaño), in the writing in which he opposed the acceptance of the "late" attempt by these jurists to appear in one of the parts of Unión, specifically number 12, in which Camero is also accused. In all cases, the Prosecutor's Office has opposed the acceptance of this association as a popular accusation, among other things because it is an "untimely" appearance, because it would only cause "undue delays" and because its identity is not clear and it could actually be an "accused party" or have "ulterior or fraudulent motives."
Now, after spending months submitting writings and appeals for their appearance to be accepted in different parts of Unión, what the association has done is file a complaint against the magistrate who initiated the case. And according to the report published in ABC, the reasons on which they base that complaint are the same as those raised by Judge Lis in his order last September. "The actions of the officials may lead to the nullity of the case," the newspaper even states, which even speaks of the judge, the secretary and two civil guards "falsifying" the Unión case. This is what the main defendants have been arguing for months, who until now have seen all their attempts to annul the procedure rejected.
Lis has no powers to investigate a judge
The ABC report is based on an order issued by Judge Rafael Lis last September, although the truth is that Lis does not even have powers to investigate another judge. And if he had seen reasons for it, he would have had to inhibit himself and transfer the case to the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands. Now, the Jiménez de Asúa Association of Jurists has gone to the TSJC, as ABC has advanced in the same article in which it echoes that order issued three months ago by Judge Lis. According to this newspaper, what they denounce, among other things, is that the judge signed orders while on vacation.
Similar issues have been raised for years by different defendants in the Unión case, who are trying to have the procedure annulled. However, the case has already had two convictions so far and the third trial has just been held. When issuing the first conviction, the Provincial Court already rejected the alleged grounds for nullity invoked by the defenses.
In addition, the TSJC has also already rejected other complaints along the same lines. It should be remembered that in addition to filing a complaint in the Lis Court (in that case supposedly only against the court secretary and against agents of the UCO), Lleó also filed a complaint against Pamparacuatro before the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands, which is the body that would be responsible for that investigation. However, the complaint was dismissed as no evidence of a crime was found.
Second recusal of Lis and annulled appearances
In addition to removing Judge Rafael Lis from the investigation into the instruction of the Unión case, the Provincial Court also recently annulled one of his resolutions within that procedure, which in reality originated from a complaint by César Romero Pamparacuatro, for the alleged theft or loss of files from the Unión case. According to the Court, Lis allowed people who could be directly "benefited" by these alleged subtractions to appear as private accusations. Even, they would be "the main suspects" of the events that were being investigated in that procedure, so he decided to expel them as accusation in the case.
After Lis's recusal, the case passed into the hands of a new judge, who finally decided to dismiss the proceedings (currently, that resolution is pending the appeals that were filed by the different parties to the procedure). However, despite being removed from that case, Judge Lis continued to instruct another procedure that he himself separated from the main case. Specifically, an extension of the complaint filed by one of the main defendants in Unión, Luis Lleó.
After becoming aware of that separate case, the Prosecutor's Office requested the recusal of Judge Lis also in that procedure, in which only Lleó himself actively participated for months. In fact, he maintains that it was carried out "behind the backs" of the Public Prosecutor's Office and the defendants, who are the secretary of Court Number 5 and two members of the UCO of the Civil Guard. The judge himself has decided not to admit the writing requesting his recusal, so now his recusal will be resolved again in the Provincial Court.
In the order dated November 30, the Court also emphasized that what César Romero Pamparacuatro denounced was not that false resolutions had been introduced into the procedure, but that some originals that did have his signature had disappeared, unlike what happened with the copies that remained in the proceedings. "He does not doubt that the resolutions he signed are the same," the Court highlighted, which concluded that "unfortunately for the defendants in the Unión case," this does not have to imply that the resolutions are annulled, much less the procedure.
